u/No_Reveal3451

When I was in school, current events were a very common assignment across every school I went to. You pulled up a recent news article, and you wrote a little about it.

However, the internet of today is VERY different from the internet of the early 2000s. When I was in school every major news outlet published all of their articles for free. NYT, CNN, WSJ, etc. 100% free across the board. Now, theses same news outlets hide their articles behind subscription paywalls. Occasionally, they'll publish free articles, but those are the exception.

Can you all still assign current events, or is it just too hard with how aggressive the paywalls are on today's major news outlets?

I'm fairly new to jazz piano. I was listening to Bill Evans, and I noticed that he frequently would take melody notes and turn them into entire chords with the melody on top. Is there a term for this? I hear it all of the time, but I just don't know what it's called or how they figure out how exactly to construct those chords.

I had a consultation with a pulmonologist. They took my weight, blood pressure, temperature, and the doctor spoke with me for 15 minutes. They ran my insurance, and insurance refused to pay.

I called their billing department and asked if they could reduce the bill to something more reasonable. The lady just kept telling me that there was nothing she could do outside of a payment plan. I explained that I could have just paid out of pocket and that we could have avoided insurance if they had told me they were out of network, but she kept telling me that if you have insurance, self-pay is never an option.

Should I just let the bill go to collections and pay a reduced rate at that point? I explained that I don't have $461 to pay them and that I don't see any other option. I offered to pay them $150 for the appointment if they would change the bill amount, but she said that it was "not possible" to do.

Should I just let the bill go to collections in a few months before trying to renegotiate? My understanding is that medical debt is bought for between 1% to 10% on the dollar. Also, since the debt is under $500, does that mean that it won't go on my credit report?

I'm just trying to figure out the most strategic way to handle this bill.

I had been battling over whether this was a good decision for quite some time. My GF was coming over for dinner, so I booked a 1-hr discovery flight while dinner was in the oven. I told her about it, and she was very supportive.

Also, I did some research on here, and you all said that a 1-hr flight is preferable to a 30-min flight because it's a lot less rushed. I just felt like it was worth the extra $125 to book the additional time.

If there is anything I need to be aware of or ask about before the discovery flight, please let me know. Thanks!

I've frequently seen people bring up the statistic that housing all homeless people is cheaper than allowing them to be homeless. I'm not arguing with the statistic, but the reality is that some percentage of those homeless people will destroy any home they are allowed to live in.

I recently did a junk removal job for a woman my family knows. She allowed a guy to live there who was previously not in a good living situation. He destroyed her house. I had to take five 12'x6' trailer loads to the dump with all of the junk and yard waste he left behind. The entire inside of the house was destroyed. She will never get that smell out. It needs to be stripped down to the studs and completely remodeled. It was 100% a crack house. They even poured concrete in the backyard to hide valuable items. The neighbors told me that they were pounding on it for days before the eviction took place.

I did work for my uncle's apartment complex back in high school. It was a similar situation. There were units that needed complete remodels due to the damage from evicted tenants. He told me that many of them were addicted to drugs, mentally ill, or both. I felt bad for him because one of the guys who trashed the place begged for a chance despite having terrible credit. He told my uncle, "[Uncle's name], you have to trust me. I'm a child of God."

Not all homeless people would trash a property, but some percentage undoubtedly will. If the government built traditional timber houses specifically to accommodate the homeless, they would have to spend untold amounts of money just to repair the damage caused by the kinds of people I described above. There would have to be some kind of concrete/indestructible units built so that they couldn't be destroyed like a typical timer-framed home.

I asked her what timeline is good for a wedding. She said around 9-12 months would be appropriate. She said that she wanted a small wedding and wanted to save money for a house. Is she my fiancé now, or does she not get that title until I do the formal one knee proposal?

A woman hired me to remove junk, trash, and yard waste from her rental property. It was a nightmare. I had to take 5 full loads of a 12x6 enclosed trailer to the dump with the tenant's junk and organic yard material. This included carpeting, furniture, ceiling fans, blinds, drug paraphernalia, gambling paraphernalia, etc.

After everything was cleaned out I noticed things like mold on the drywall, evidence of pest infestations, a sagging wooden floor, ruined carpeting, interior wall damage, cabinetry damage, damage to windows, damage to door frames, damage to the exterior, and massively overgrown vegetation. Also, there was a horrible smell that permeated the entire residence.

My GF brought me lunch one day, looked at the house, and said, "It's completely ruined. This was such a nice house, and they completely ruined it."

It was obvious that the house was not properly maintained for many years. Regular pest maintenance was not performed. Siding and decking was not replaced. The foundation work to correct the sagging was not done and now the whole house is collapsing. Tenants were allowed to smoke inside, destroy the interior, and destroy the yard. 100% of the home's appliances, ceiling fans, and cabinets need to be throw out.

Had the owner done the proper maintenance and not allowed a tenant to ruin the inside of the house, it would still be a nice residence across the street from the local university. I'm not a professional home remodeler, but unfortunately, the house very likely needs to be demolished. At the very least, it needs to be stripped down to the framing, undergo significant foundation repair, undergo a full replacement of the roof, and undergo a complete replacement of all of the drywall, carpeting, flooring, cabinetry, and all appliances/millwork/fixtures.

It's really sad, but that's what happens when houses are neglected for long periods of time.